January 19, 2010

New Jersey Home Buyers Now to Receive a Rebate from ZipRealty

For home buyers in New
Jersey, today is an exciting day.

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine signed into law a bill sponsored
by state Assemblyman Patrick J. Diegnan, Jr., Paul D. Moriarty and Joseph Vasthat allows New Jersey home buyers across the
state to receive a cash rebate, once they close on their home, from real estate
brokerages, including ZipRealty. With people being asked to cough up higher
down payments and meet more stringent lending standards than ever to purchase a
house these days, the ability to get a check after closing – or even cover
those closing costs with a rebate from your real estate agent – is sure to be a
boon for both cash-strapped buyers and the New Jersey housing market overall.

The process of getting this law passed, however, that
didn’t happen overnight.

For the past three years, ZipRealty has worked closely with
public officials in New Jersey
to promote the importance of offering a rebate to buyers once they’ve purchased
their home.We’ve attended countless committee
hearings, and I’ve personally testified to New Jersey real estate committees about
the fact that offering a rebate to home buyers can help stimulate local housing
markets, and offers buyers with more real estate brokerage choices.

The real estate industry, historically, has been about
what’s best for the agent.We recognized
more than a decade ago when ZipRealty first launched that this old industry
model was broken.Our goal from day one
has been to always put the home buyer first and to provide the most
transparency possible online.

ZipRealty was among the first brokerages nationally to
include all homes posted to Multiple Listing Services on ZipRealty.com, and we
continue to offer our clients the most in-depth housing data and comparable
sales figures available - anywhere.We
were also the first national brokerage to offer our clients the ability to rate
and review any listing in any market, and the first to post ratings and reviews
for our 3,000-plus agents.

We believe that if our clients are using our innovative tools
and online features to help search for homes and tour properties that are
likely to be the best fit for them, we should share a portion of our
commission.

Offering a rebate is something that we do in nearly all of
the major markets we operate. In fact, we’ve rebated more than $100 million since 1999 to
our clients in 36 major U.S.
housing markets across 22 states, including the District of Columbia.

We’ve been actively working with buyers and sellers in Philadelphia for the past several years, and our agents in
southern New Jersey work extensively with
buyers and sellers in Camden and Gloucester counties.These clients are offered the same
transparency that we offer our clients elsewhere - but have not been able to
provide a rebate to date.That changes
starting today.And we couldn’t be more
excited for each client.

Surprisingly, there are 10 other states nationally that
continue to prohibit real estate rebates – including Oregon, both North and
South Dakota and Alabama, which limits brokerages like ZipRealty from offering
home buyers and sellers a fresh approach to real estate.A lack of competition means that buyers may
not be seeing all home listings and receive a poorer level of customer
service.

We plan to work with public officials in these states to
reconsider their stance against real estate rebates, so that more buyers and
sellers will hopefully one day have the same choices that those in New Jersey now do.

Today, we applaud the efforts of the three assemblymen
(Patrick Diegnan, Jr., Paul Moriarty and Joseph Vas), who sponsored this bill
and vigorously argued for its passage, the New Jersey state assembly for voting
through this bill (34-0), and Governor Corzine for signing this bill into law.

For those in New
Jersey, we look forward to serving your real estate
needs … and keep an eye out for a rebate check from ZipRealty once you’ve
bought the home of your dreams.

Comments

New Jersey Home Buyers Now to Receive a Rebate from ZipRealty

For home buyers in New
Jersey, today is an exciting day.

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine signed into law a bill sponsored
by state Assemblyman Patrick J. Diegnan, Jr., Paul D. Moriarty and Joseph Vasthat allows New Jersey home buyers across the
state to receive a cash rebate, once they close on their home, from real estate
brokerages, including ZipRealty. With people being asked to cough up higher
down payments and meet more stringent lending standards than ever to purchase a
house these days, the ability to get a check after closing – or even cover
those closing costs with a rebate from your real estate agent – is sure to be a
boon for both cash-strapped buyers and the New Jersey housing market overall.

The process of getting this law passed, however, that
didn’t happen overnight.

For the past three years, ZipRealty has worked closely with
public officials in New Jersey
to promote the importance of offering a rebate to buyers once they’ve purchased
their home.We’ve attended countless committee
hearings, and I’ve personally testified to New Jersey real estate committees about
the fact that offering a rebate to home buyers can help stimulate local housing
markets, and offers buyers with more real estate brokerage choices.

The real estate industry, historically, has been about
what’s best for the agent.We recognized
more than a decade ago when ZipRealty first launched that this old industry
model was broken.Our goal from day one
has been to always put the home buyer first and to provide the most
transparency possible online.

ZipRealty was among the first brokerages nationally to
include all homes posted to Multiple Listing Services on ZipRealty.com, and we
continue to offer our clients the most in-depth housing data and comparable
sales figures available - anywhere.We
were also the first national brokerage to offer our clients the ability to rate
and review any listing in any market, and the first to post ratings and reviews
for our 3,000-plus agents.

We believe that if our clients are using our innovative tools
and online features to help search for homes and tour properties that are
likely to be the best fit for them, we should share a portion of our
commission.

Offering a rebate is something that we do in nearly all of
the major markets we operate. In fact, we’ve rebated more than $100 million since 1999 to
our clients in 36 major U.S.
housing markets across 22 states, including the District of Columbia.

We’ve been actively working with buyers and sellers in Philadelphia for the past several years, and our agents in
southern New Jersey work extensively with
buyers and sellers in Camden and Gloucester counties.These clients are offered the same
transparency that we offer our clients elsewhere - but have not been able to
provide a rebate to date.That changes
starting today.And we couldn’t be more
excited for each client.

Surprisingly, there are 10 other states nationally that
continue to prohibit real estate rebates – including Oregon, both North and
South Dakota and Alabama, which limits brokerages like ZipRealty from offering
home buyers and sellers a fresh approach to real estate.A lack of competition means that buyers may
not be seeing all home listings and receive a poorer level of customer
service.

We plan to work with public officials in these states to
reconsider their stance against real estate rebates, so that more buyers and
sellers will hopefully one day have the same choices that those in New Jersey now do.

Today, we applaud the efforts of the three assemblymen
(Patrick Diegnan, Jr., Paul Moriarty and Joseph Vas), who sponsored this bill
and vigorously argued for its passage, the New Jersey state assembly for voting
through this bill (34-0), and Governor Corzine for signing this bill into law.

For those in New
Jersey, we look forward to serving your real estate
needs … and keep an eye out for a rebate check from ZipRealty once you’ve
bought the home of your dreams.

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